Show & Tell Tuesday - Wedding Quilt #4...

...and I hope the last of 2013!  I feel like all I've been doing this year is making wedding quilts!  This is another gift for my daughter to give a longtime girlfriend at her wedding next month.  The sleuthing revealed the couple likes neutrals.

So, I pulled a bunch of neutrals from my stash...

I started with this bunch which include some Essex linen blend fabrics for some good texture...

And this stack of Classical Elements from P&B Textiles (I just knew I'd find something great to do with these when I bought them months ago!)...

This stack didn't make the cut (but will be perfect for something else I'm sure!)...

I also pulled out this leftover brown from Bill's quilt for contrast...

And since this wedding is coming up very quickly, I needed a very easy pattern.  Luckily, I quickly found the Buttercup pattern from Heather Mulder Peterson's book Stop, Drop and Roll...

Obviously, my version will have a very different look ( and no applique!).  So, I cut all my strips...

and sewed and sewed and sewed for the last couple of weeks and this past weekend, I started quilting!

I'm using the Razor Grass panto.  It's a dense pattern, but it looks great.  A very modern design for this very modern quilt....

And, I got a bonus from this quilt....over a hundred of these!!

If I had time, I'd make a pillow or something to go with the quilt, but that's not happening.  So, all of these HSTs have been put safely away for another time!

I should also show off these great place mats I made for the bridal shower that took place last month (notice the neutral theme here too?)....

The bride said to my daughter (and I quote) "These are nicer than anything I could buy.  Your mom is unreal!"  I'll take that as the compliment it was meant to be - LOL.  I'm thinking she'll really like the quilt!  Not only did I make these four, but I also needed six more for a housewarming so I needed and easy pattern.  The six were brown, cream and blue and I am kicking myself that I didn't get a photo of them.  Use your imagination please - they really looked awesome! I used this tutorial by the awesome Alissa Haight Carlton.

I'm linking up with Randi's Show & Tell Tuesday.  You can see more great Show & Tell over there!
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And for all one of you who may care (Hi Luanne!), hubby and I were happy dancing around the kitchen a little while ago... we opened the mail today and saw this invitation regarding our upcoming Disney vacation.....

I've been scheming to try and get us invited to be testers for Disney's new "guest experience" program but didn't know how.  And they just picked us!  (Yes, us and I'm sure about 5,000 others-LOL)  Hey, Mickey, we'll be there soon!!! o:)

Summertime Sewing

I made some fun things this summer, not the least of which was this fabulous beach tote designed by Jill Finley from Jilllily Studio.  This was a free pattern on the Henry Glass website.

I saw the bag on one of Jill's blog posts and she promised it was super easy.  It was!  I decided I needed to make it immediately and went hunting through my stash and chose this fun print from the Twirl line by Me & My Sister for Moda.  I had a bunch of Mirror Ball Dots leftover and I picked out three matching colors and got sewing.  I already had a package of Soft & Stable on hand purchased for another project that never got started.  If you haven't used Soft & Stable, it was very easy to work with.  I'll definitely buy more.

Here is my bag modeling some quilting supplies!  Look at all of those great pockets - 6 in all - to hold whatever....

I needed some nice white cording for the handles and found some on eBay from tlollini.  Now I think it cost all of $2.98 or something for 3 yards.  Just plain old cording.  Look at the beautiful way it was packaged.....

It was like getting a little present.  I was very impressed, she could have just stuck this in an envelope and she went the extra mile!

I couldn't wait to show my bag to my daughter-in-law and I knew she'd fall in love with it.  She saw it, she fell in love and then she said "wouldn't it be cute in flip flop fabric?"  So, of course I went in search of cute flip flop fabric.  And, you know what?  There is lots and lots of cute flip flop fabric to choose from.  We settled on these two (one for the outside, one for the lining) and found matching chevron prints...

Too cute!!

Raqhel was sure stylin' at the beach this summer!

I however, didn't get to go the beach, so my bag still has quilt supplies in it - LOL!  (Don't feel too sorry for me - I've got a vacay coming up next month!)

String of Pearls Quilt-a-Long

My String of Pearls quilt...from beginning.....

to middle....

To quilting (and lmost another "Oops" with not enough batting!!)...

 to end!

You notice the black binding.  I was going to do a scrappy binding with all of the "pearl" colors, but hubby saw the quilt asked if it could be his.   I said sure, then he asked what I was binding it with.  He really preferred the black (he's seeing computer screens in this quilt NOT a String of Pearls - LOL!)  

I'll just keep that scrappy binding because I still have quite a stash of Pearl Bracelet fabrics to use it with!

I want to thank Christa from Christa Quilts for hosting this quilt-a-long.  It was a lot of fun and if you want to see some really creative takes on this pattern, go check out the Flickr site.  Very inspiring!!

Wedding Quilt #3 - Whispering Stars

May I present Wedding Quilt #3!  This beautifully soft, low-contrast quilt is called Whispering Stars and the pattern was featured in an old American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  I gathered the fabrics - from an old Robyn Pandolph line called Somerset Cottage - from here and there, a few years back, and then the pile sat.  I really wanted to make this one for myself but when I found out the bride loved pastels, I decided to make the quilt for the happy couple.  I would just enjoy it while I was making it.

I really got to put my Quilt In a Day Flying Geese Ruler to work on this quilt making those 80 star blocks!  Using that ruler is really my favorite way of making geese - they come out perfect every time, making this quilt go together so easily.

The pantograph I used to quilt it is called Heart's a Flutter - very appropriate!

Here are a few photos of the day...

Welcoming the Guests

Cute signs - Ceremony this way, and Cocktails this way too!

Hubby in his kilt on the 95 degree and humid day holding the goods.  

Even though it was way too hot that day (everything was outside), it was a beautiful wedding.  And I understand the bride and groom absolutely loved the quilt!

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Treasureboxmemories commented on my Wedding Quilt #2 post asking what line the "Beaches" fabric I featured was from (but I couldn't respond as the comment was "no reply, so I hope you see this!).   That fabric is from the Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater from Moda line.  It's called "Beaches on Cream"  http://www.etsy.com/listing/108181536/lucys-crab-shack-by-sweetwater-beaches .

Christmas in July Part 2 - The Twelve Days of Christmas

This is a project I have to get started on and it will be a labor of love.  I have a cousin (a second cousin I guess - my grandmother's sister's daughter), about 10 years older than I am, whom I was very close to as a child.  I spent a lot of time with her and her mom when I was little.  We'd go on vacations together and I'd spent a week at their house in the summer.  When I was about 10 or so, Linda married a man from South Carolina and he whisked her away and she's there still.  I've only seen her a few times in those 40 years since, but I treasure each time that I do.  She and her family have been coming "up north" as they say, to visit for the past few summers.   Last year, sadly, I missed her visit.  She knows I quilt so had asked my Mom if she thought I would finish a project for her that she'd started years ago as a gift for one of her daughters.  And my Mom volunteered me.  And then forgot to tell me - LOL! When Linda came for her visit, she brought the project and gave it to my Mom to pass on.

The project came from this book...

 It's hard to see here, but each square is cross stitched with one of the Twelve Days of Christmas....

These are the fabrics that she chose for the sashing and borders...

 And each cross stitched blocks is beautifully done...

 These photos don't do them justice, they are very pretty..

Looks like she did these in 2002 by the initials and date on the last block.  I shouldn't talk.  I have UFOs way older than that! o:)

There were three spools of thread in the bag...I wonder how old these are???

I don't think I'll use those - we'll get some fresh thread - LOL!

So, my goal is to get this done and quilted for her to gift this Christmas.  I know she will be thrilled and it will make me very happy to have had a hand in helping her with this.  Makes me feel a little closer to someone I wish was still close to me geographically.  I really miss her.

Christmas in July....PMQG Holiday Angel Swap

Lookie what I found - a post I never posted.  I really want to share this so thought I'd do a Christmas in July post!
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In January, we had our Philly Modern Quilt Guild Holiday Angel Swap.  We filled out forms using Elfster giving hints as to what we might like to get, favorite, colors, things we definitely didn't like.  This was a huge help to the Angels to make sure your giftee would like what you worked so hard on!

One of the items my gal asked for was a coffee press cozy.  I found a great tutorial online and it was very easy to make!  I chose a color scheme of gray, aqua and orange and used my coffee press as a model....

In progress...

 

So simple!

Trying it out on my press...

I thought I'd make this cute potholder to go with....

I added a few odds and ends to the bag and my gift was complete!

I was the lucky recipient of some great things tailored to me!  Thanks again, Bobbi!  Here's my super-cute bag...

Bobbi and I both have Handiquilters and she geared my gifts toward longarming...I got this great book full of design ideas and an air eraseable pen - I love those.  She also included a very cute pre-printed mini wholecloth panel for me to practice on.  And, the pretty pin is hand made!

This was the pièce de résistance, however.  I mentioned I collected Christmas ornaments.  Bobbi made me this beautiful hand-beaded ornament for my tree.  Lovely!

(Yes, my tree was still up in mid-January.  Don't judge.  It came down shortly after that - LOL!)

You can see some other great gifts given that night here.

Well, the year is now half over - it's going to be time to start thinking about this Christmas soon!  At least for me it is ... this year I AM going to start my Christmas sewing early (no, really, I am! o:) )